Do You Enjoy JRPGs Anymore?

There was once a time when the only way one could enjoy an in-depth story, crazy blue eyed characters with purple hair, and a game that would not be bested unless you sunk 40+ hours meant playing some form of JRPG. Has this genre lost its appeal though?

Personally haven't enjoyed the ones I've played. Would love to see a Rogue Galaxy for this gen of consoles. Very much enjoyed that game on the PS2 or something similar. Would definitely get me back into them.

Played Star Ocean 4, great combat system, but terrible fucking story and characters, with shit voice acting and bad controls (large analogue stick dead zones, annoying camera that zooms in or out if you want to just look vertically). Also, the general look of the game make me feel like throwing up. Not sure why exactly.

even with that, it doesn't helps with the acting in cutscene. I thought i could even act or do better than that. Seriously, they need to hire some other guys for the cutscene or story telling, cause it is so horrible in SO4.

You have FPS as the breadwinner for the whole freakin industry. Every year we get some rehash COD title, with minor tweeks and the fools/people eat it up. Money TALKS.

Then you have the Jap- devs/publishers/companies that see games more as an art and barely lean to shaders and such. Majority of the best jap games this gen are on HANDHELDS. Those handhelds tote ps2 level graphics, which is where Jap games always shined best. They don't care that much for Juggarnaut number crunching graphics(except squenix).

So yeah, this gen is a mess. Just think of how many smaller co's died. Acclaim, Eidos, Midway, and many others.

I didn't disagree, but I think your wording is what caused the disagrees. You refer to HD consoles not producing good JRPGs. People click disagree because they want to defend their systems I guess.

In fairness though, it's nothing to do with the consoles. It's the generational gap that's affected the quality of JRPGs. The western gamer is where a lot of the money is, so Japanese developers try to make 'westernized' JRPGs, which often go horribly wrong. The reason the 'real-time' battle system is so popular is because it's simpler, therefore it's meant to be easier to jump into.

Unfortunately, this can be overdone, as in the case of FF13. Real JRPG fans don't want to be spoon fed.

How you can say that when everything Nomura has said and showed seems to imply that Versus is going to be just like the Final Fantasy games of yesteryear but with a incredibly beefed up world and graphics and what not is beyond me.

I mean from everything we have heard it's going to be a far more traditional J-RPG then anything we have gotten this gen so far.

I don't generalize JRPGs as a single game, and acknowledge that there are bad, and good, games in the genre.

Personally, I'm looking foward to Disgaea 4, Tales of Graces f and Ar Tonelico Qoga, among others, this year. Might not get extraordinary reviews, but I honestly love those series.

I also enjoy them more than highly-rated AAA super-mega-budget games, hilariously.

Moreover, I feel that the general disappointment that JRPGs are seeing are because of two things; first off, the lack of a super-budget, heavily-hyped and completly-recognizeable big-name JRPG series. Final Fantasy did this before, but, well...yeah.

Second, it's the migration of JRPGs towards Portables. Let's not fool ourselves here, the best works this generation are in the DS and PSP. Examples of this? C'mon, just look at the latest releases: Radiant Historia, Z.H.P., etcetera.

So, yeah.

Tl;Dr?:

Yes, I still enjoy them. And you should too, but sadly there are factors that have earned JRPGs this generation an ugly reputation.

There's been a couple I've enjoyed but for most jrpgs this gen I've enjoyed certain aspects of games (SO4's battle system for ex.) but they have fallen short in important departments like character and story development.

Awesome! The telltale games sequels are pretty damn good too. A lot of former lucas arts employees worked on it. They're not as good as Hit the Road but they do a good job of keeping the spirit of HtR.

Nor am I insecure and vs one thing vs another like it seems to be popular to do right now.

They are a valued genre

The facts are dedicated handhelds are number 1 in every region and are far the most popular gaming option in japan, so of course thats were they have mostly all gone this gen (one could argue even more than the entirety of last gen)

I am looking forward to the another world, tales of x, and disgaea 4

I have been playing xenoblade and last story and they have been better than most games I have played this gen

What i love about JRPGS is the fantasy/imagination element. Unfortunately none has captured my imagination this gen. Perhaps VC but that game was based more during the early 20th century Europe. This is perhaps the biggest problem with JRPG this gen. Its trying to ground themselves in reality too much and following the western trend in RPG's.

Actually, that's a good point. Ever since I started working, I've only played 1 JRPG, mainly because you have to invest a lot of time in them. After a hard days work, I don't have the energy to grind for experience.

Lol, that reminds me of a rather funny memory I have with JRPG's. I was playing one of the .hack games, and I was just starting out. I only had about 100 HP. I was wondering the map, and I obviously went somewhere I wasn't supposed to at the time. My first encounter was this big ass dragon thing. I attacked him and it did no damage. That's when I thought something wasn't right. Sure enough, when it was its turn to attack it gave me 1300 damage, pretty much obliterating me.

Yes it beats the hell put of shooting people on the same maps over and over again thats just really boring, jrpgs no matter how generic they can be (tho not all a lot tho) at least try to give a story and char dev...what do western games do...."DUDE BRO les blow stuff up cause were super muscly and manly and we get all the girls (when clearly only guys buy our games cause we do crude sexist)" that was the extent of the story line.....however there are the occasional western games like Mass Effect that do great and doing something different but because dudebros cry cause they can't corner camp and cheat they stream line the games...sometime devs make me sick for not having the guts to try something different and just ponder to easy game mechanics, stupid gimmicks and lack of effort for selling a 60$ game when what they give you at most is 20$ dollars worth of stuff

Bioware has ruined any chances of me liking JRPG's. The last one I kind of liked was on the Dreamcast, Skies Of Arcadia. I just cant get into them now, I mean I own some, like Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey and the like but I haven't played them even. Without a proper story and the ability to choose your path and answers to questions, I just cant get into it.

I always say the PS3 kids are more apt to play JRPG's now days, I know a lot of PS3 people in my gaming clan are into that anime crap and so they enjoy the anime type games. I couldn't even begin to tell someone WTF a Gundam is...

Featuring branching plots and paths, as well as choices that ACTUALLY affect the game, I believe that would be your kind of thing. AT Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel is going to release soon, even, so rejoice!

I find your generalizations hilarious, to be honest. There are alot of JRPGs providing choices that affect endings, character relationships and the storyline itself in ways only Western RPGs can dream of, namely BioWare. Closest I've found to an actually WRPG featuring MEANINGFUL choices has been Deus Ex, and that is why it's considered a classic.

And, by last, I can understand your lack of fondness regarding "anime crap", yet there are far too many JRPGs that don't even feature anime artstyles.

Either way, I believe that they're better in comparison to yellow teeths and whatnot, myself. All in the big magic of opinions, however.

And heh, I honestly find it hilarious that you mention BioWare, to be honest. I take it you've never played a Black Isle game, for example?

That is all, have a good day.

I am expecting ad-hominems by tons from your part, by the way, so don't hold back.

I cant believe I buy a PS3 because I was sure that this console will be again like PS1,2 the one all JRPG's will go and after all this years I didn't see a single release of a game that interest me.. The games I want to play go to xbox and Wii like: Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, Xenoblade, The Last Story.. So I wont say that I am disappointed by this generation JRPG's because I never play the best on the other consoles I am disappointed tho from the quantity over all and in PS3 more specific something I hope will change in the future else my PS3 buy was pointless and waste of time, I didn't buy the console just for MGS & UC those games is just snacks JRPG's is my main dish and I cant find any worth my time on PS3.

Agree. Agree! I don't know why Devs are scared to make a quality JRPG for the PS3. It was one of the main reasons I went down the PS path. I'm at least thankful that the PSP is sporting some nice titles, and also with the release of Xenogears and Vagrant Story... I'll be sure to have a taste of what I missed in the PSone era, but come on! Hook up the love for the JRPGs on the PS3

Question: what are the best HD JRPGs this gen, regardless of what system?

Not everyone. I think it just came as a shock that levelling up wasnt the main way of getting stronger and a lot of people didnt like the amount of draw-stock you had to do to hope to beat the game

Easily my favourite, however XIII had my favourite world, just wanted to see more of it and spend time in there speaking to NPC's etc. Kind of sucks, it could have been the best FF so far with only a few additions (Better Arch-Villain being the main one)

Well of course I love JRPGs, I don't think the appeals gone anywhere just not that many come out on home consoles this gen, its many portable and a fair amount of the ones that do feel need to try and westernise themselves, completely doing themselves out of their key selling point for folks like me (that they're Japanese and also rpgs)

I've lost a lot of the nostalgia for JRPG's it started after FFIX, I've played many jrpgs since then and they just never lit that old spark like they used to.

I think its the contrite nature of the story telling, it seems to absorbed around minutia instead of a big over arching plot. On top of that, while FFXIII looks good it was just too damn long with very little forward momentum, I was 20 hours in and still feeling lost story wise and just gave up.

All I know is I've been enjoying WRPG's more lately because they keep a clear and concise narrative without throwing lore in your face that you have no handle on that early in the game. Also JRPGs need to settle on a battle system because this limbo between active and turn/timed is just too much.

I like the slow pace and strategy of a turned/timed system and a fully active, but mixing them not so much. I think Dragon Age Origins does is right with the ability to just pause and plan out the parties action, or you can just go full speed ahead if you want.

Good JPRG’s ive played this gen Star ocean 4, final fantasy 13, eternal sonata, infinite undiscovery, lost odyssey, the last remnant, the best one ive played is magna carta 2 (I know its not a JPRG but dam It’s just as good and I with more JRPG’s could be like this i.e bigger tits and less children characters like WTF is up with pretty much ALL JRPG’s why do I have to use a child or two?)